1st attempt with self wired 400 HPS w/bagherb, and DIY cooltube.

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Well Ive been slowly moving along, Still a novice grower when you want to get down to brass tacks... CFL wasnt working out so well so I am hopin for at least a couple ladies out of this round, The 400 HPS I put together is definatly a HUGE improvement as far as plant growth, I mean I didnt think it would be that different, But it really is. Im working on getting my CFLS somewhere for a 24/0 station to start seedlings. The hps is on a 12/12 timer.

I ordered a 400 kit, DUcting, Still workin on the closet but for now its goin alright. Got the bakaround, and did up my DIY cooltube. I have a 120mm computer fan to the far left on the other side of the wall sucking air through the ducting and I gotta say, Its not as hot as my big DIY cfl fixture got. It had about 25 CFL's in it I'll post some pics of that one of these days just for kicks.

I have NOT put any nutes in the water yet. I have General Hydrophonics
FloraNova BLOOM. And had some peters for the soil plants but looks like a couple of those have balls, And maybe a hair or two, So Its still early but Maybe they hermie???

Here are some pics to get us all started......You will also see im trying
a couple hempi's too. Got some nice buckets for them if they mature nicely.... Ok here we go
P.S., I always whip this stuff up basically myself, Ghetto rigged like hell you know how it goes... But I do make sure my wiring is secure and I solder all My connections usually. But the way the bulb is held in
place I opted to keep the bakaround metal peice in the equation
I cant help but make everything I do a bit different, Im a big improvisor also

IN case you wanna know what the pipe thing is, Its an old holley dual inlet rail
I slapped some fittings together and made a sweet ass bowl out of it since it
had been sitting for years. I have a water bong I made out of a vodka bottle thats sweet as well haha SLide and all!

 

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And I will continue the pics....
I think I spotted some balls already, Check em out.
Also one of the plants that seems to have balls, I think
Ive spotted 2 or 3 hairs on them also... Theyve been 12/12
for about a week maybe..... So still a little early I circled suspects!

 

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And heres the last set.... The 3 lil hempys in there They are young But I figured let em go 12/12 with the rest... Im bummed though I think the ones in the last post, Lookin like some balls.

I lowered the plants down, The taller ones had grown up to the light
So I dropped them down. This is sort of what I call a "serious test run"

THanks everybody who gives a couple views
Now maybe we can get down to some bizness?

 

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Yep, I believe they are hermie. At least 2. Maybe even 3.
Sucks because that was from some danky smoke.
Its okay though. I can see the small white roots at teh bottom of the hempys though, gonna let them go a little more and maybe add a little nute before I switch them to their final big containers. The 2 plants that have hairs and balls, Im going to go ahead and dispose of them

 

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So Finally got some 1mil mylar 50x4 ft. roll... and hooked it up to the best of my abilities givin the time and light contraints etc, Anyway I think it will hold, and its about as flat as I could get it around the wall there.... They are likin it... from left to right like you opened the closet door here we go welcome to MTWeed cribs.....

 

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The plants are growing good. I eliminated one of the hempy's. It was a male. So now we have 2 hempys about to be transplanted in a few days, and 3 dirt plants, That are all females, And 2 of them are sharing
the same pot lol I threw 3 seeds in that thing because they hadnt germed yet, the 2 that grew up are females.
The 2nd one just showed the first little hairs while the
First one that showed has started packin on more hairs.
They are gonna have to live together, Ive seen them
co-exist and look great, so Im transplanting them into
a bigger container to give them plenty of room and I
will probably pull them apart a little as they grow.

The biggest of them is looking great in its soil container
with places popping up on the nodes and hairs comin
up strong.

Out of the 2 hempys, I can barely but definatly see
2 small hairs peekin up on one of the nodes, the other
hempy hasnt showed yet, But Im thinking female.

If the last hempy turns female and they all stay
that way it puts me at 5 females

Been feeding 8ml to the gallon of FN bloom.
Or 4ml to 1/2 gal.

Plants are holding up really well here are some pics
a far cry better than my previous 2 grows sometimes
you just gotta let teh plant do its thing and just
give it a little guidence along teh way
The 400w HPS dont hurt either ive noticed.

 

[Geozander]

Nice looking plants and setup mate.

 

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Nice looking plants and setup mate.

Thanks man preciate it

+rep

 

[Geozander]

No probs mate! Cheers for rep

 

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Okay well, Its been a bit since my last update.

First off, The pot with 2 plants is now 1 plant.
So much better I just cut it out and mangled
it so it would just die it wasnt showing any
signs and I figured it was way past due.

All I got now is 4 ladies. 2x-Hempy and 2x-Soil.
I transplanted them into I think 2 or 3 gallon
mop buckets from walmart. perfect for about
2$ each beats the hell outta most pots and
I can re-use them just the same..... So
lets start with some pics followed by some
more reading material. I know I know, None
of us like to read much bare with me....

 

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And heres the 2nd half with a few more details
and also a few more pics so you should be
clickin around, and not dickin around!


One of my soil plants, The younger of the 2 dirt
plants has like 2 inches of bend over at the top
where its hitting the top of my enclosure

The other stopped growin tall i think and branched
out it hasnt gotten taller, But has alotta bud branches.
The one touching the top didnt branch out at all.
I still have another foot of drop available on my
platform but that is where the reflective stuff
ends and there would be about a 1ft gap at the bottom
for light to escape like crazy... So not sure what
i wanna do about the girl thats raising the roof
any suggestions ???

Also, Ive been using floranova bloom at a 6ml per
gallon ratio for both the hempy, AND the soil plants.
Doing REALLY well for the soil plants as far as looks go.
The hempys are a little younger, and not as beasty
looking as my soil plants. Right now it takes 2 gallons
to water them all and it could use a tad extra probably
I usually water every 2 days, Lately ive been just
watering with a 6ml/gal, Then next water Ill do 3ml/gal
to let them rest but I dont think the soil plants need rest. I hope the hempys beef up soon should be about
time for full on resevoir action on these puppies!

Last pics for now, Thanks if ya read, and thanks
if ya clickin on some pics, Enjoy........

 

[NeoAnarchist]

lol damn man, i really like your ingenuity. what did u use for the glass for that diy cooltube, that is nifty, how much does it run on ur electirc with that ballast? mines like 20$, my grows pretty similar to yours actually, im runnin same lights, nutes, but im in hydro. im even more curious on what you used for that ballast man. that is crafty

 

[fogo4life]

nice plants man and setup but i think i would have topped it a couple of times when it was vegin cuz then u get more cola's and it keeps the plant smaller and bushier therefore less space but still same amount of smoke sometimes more though lol but man if u have a plant with male and female traits like hairs and pollen sacks then its a hermie and its not always bad cuz ive learned from my hermies that the pollen just isnt as potent in hermies as they are in reg. males so most of the time if hermies pollinate they wont get that many seeds but and also if a hermie pollinates itself it will produce prodominately female seeds in turn making femenized seeds lol but ya just a thought man ur stuff looks great

 

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nice plants man and setup but i think i would have topped it a couple of times when it was vegin cuz then u get more cola's and it keeps the plant smaller and bushier therefore less space but still same amount of smoke sometimes more though lol but man if u have a plant with male and female traits like hairs and pollen sacks then its a hermie and its not always bad cuz ive learned from my hermies that the pollen just isnt as potent in hermies as they are in reg. males so most of the time if hermies pollinate they wont get that many seeds but and also if a hermie pollinates itself it will produce prodominately female seeds in turn making femenized seeds lol but ya just a thought man ur stuff looks great

Hey man thanks alot for takin the time to check it
out. Yah I supercropped the soil plants but didnt
top them. The older one did perfectly back there
in the corner perfect plant. I was trying to keep
the plants semi-bushy. I topped my last grow
and had a great bush but as bad as that thing
bushed out but it didnt bud up nicely because
I was running some CFL's, cheaper nutes,
and it had to finish in a cold basement.

So this time with my new light and room setup
I said screw it, Im just gonna let them do their thing
lol, Was almost shellshocked probably from the last
failed grow with the crappier equipment and nutes
I guess, So this time I was more reserved with
my topping and stuff, If this turns out good I'll
be topping next grow probably once per plant.

Once again, Thanks alot man for checkin in +rep

lol damn man, i really like your ingenuity. what did u use for the glass for that diy cooltube, that is nifty, how much does it run on ur electirc with that ballast? mines like 20$, my grows pretty similar to yours actually, im runnin same lights, nutes, but im in hydro. im even more curious on what you used for that ballast man. that is crafty

Hey breh... I really appreciate the support on my
techniques. I mean I always do something just
to do it you know, Like for my pool outside
they want 20 bucks for a skimmer head, So I made
one outta large person size panty hose and a coat
hanger for the rim. Works way better than the old skimmer lmao. Dont have to empty until im done either
the skimmers you buy are like flat anyway wtf?

..I must be high so back to the subject The cooltube
I bought on ebay. Well its actually a pyrex "bake a round". You can scoop one for about 15-20$ Mine
came with the little rack which I straightened the
ends and just used it as a center support to
hold the whole thing up. Gotta 25ft x 4" thing of shiny ducting
for like 15$, And a 12v rated 120mm fan pulling air through that
wired up to a 12v adapter from anything will work.
And to join the ducting to the attic wall where it vents too
through the fan, I found a tuppaware container my wife had
that was perfect size after I cut out the bottom, made a perfect
"joiner" for teh round hole I made in the wall, and the ducting.
Saved me like 10 bucks right there using the tuppaware as a joiner lol.
And yeah I could afford it, But id rather spend the money wisely...
I highly believe in DIY whenever possible, Brings out the best in us all.

The bulb is positioned
inside using a doubled coathanger, Precisely bent to go
in the tube a certain amount, comes out and bends
back like a < shape and goes up to the "bake A round"
rack that holds the light up, Doubles as the coat hanger's
anchor point to keep the bulb itself from moving or being
uneven inside the tube. Its all together as a "system".
It took a little time and patience to get all that
"lined up" and working together as a cool tube
system, But I have saved hundreds I know that much.
And they gladly were spent elsewhere lmao.

For the ballast, You need to get the right transformer, the right
rated capacitor, and an igniter. Which some values would vary depending on
the wattage you plan on running. You could find these parts
seperately but trust me after pricing it out, the effort it takes,
You are a whole lot better off getting a kit. 400, 600, even 1000 watt
kits. If you go that route, You can get out for ~around~ 50$ of course higher
wattage will be slightly more expensive in most cases if you find somebody
who has their kits in order, Do comparisons before buying them,customer reviews are life-savers.

And either way you gotta wire it up yourself, The only ones that come
pre-wired that I know of are the real expensive shits that are 150$ and up and
thats for like a 250 watter!.... Now that Ive
done it, I'll never buy a prewired one.
For a fraction of the cost you get the same thing basically.
And the bragging rights to say "yeah, I done that, Im a smart pot head bitch".

The electric bill, Actually there was like no difference.
The first month it actually went DOWN from the
previous month, I have seen nothing more than
5-10$ variations in the bill from when we first
moved into this house. I had it on 24/0 for
about a week too but ever since just 12/12.

...and +rep for stoppin by man
Hope I got all the questions.

PS. I probly spent 3 hours on the couch "mapping" shit out
before I done any of it. So the tradeoff is more time = less money spent.

 

[fogo4life]

yea man anytime but um u think u might wanna trade some seeds or somethin?? and check out my first grow c watcha think

 

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...Ok so its been a little while, I figured Id let them do their thing
before I expose them so soon to the eyes of strangers, They
can be sensitive

But basically doing 8ml/gallon GH bloom still, Except Ive done
*Feed 8ml, Water only, Feed 5ml, Water only, Repeat.*

Ive been thinking about getting some chaching or ripen, But
at this point might just stick it out with straight bloom.
And the bloom works great in the soil it seems....

Also, Gotta friend who's friend says they have some sort of
"Bob Marley Strain". I smoked some and seen it.... The
herb is pretty dank and was covered in trichs. I hear they
were selling it for 120 a quarter. Definatly the sample
I smoked put me in that mode where youre like;
"Am I this high, Oh wait why am I microwaving a fork..."

Said he would start some clones for me, Thinking of trying
a couple clones for 25$ a piece and doing a scrog hempy.
ITs that, Or pick up some WW seeds from nirvana.... A or B

 

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....And some more pics, The site resized them its too late to be doing it right now, But they are still decent

 

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Okay, Last set of pics......
What do you guys think so far??
Anythoughts on what I said also on
the first post of this 3 post update?


Remember, On the wide shots, the 2 hempys
are on the left, 2 soil on the right. The hempys
had basically no veg. time...

 

[NeoAnarchist]

HOLY SHIT! those are huge buds! great job man, thats some good lookin colas u got, very nice, makes me almost wanna try soil lol

 

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HOLY SHIT! those are huge buds! great job man, thats some good lookin colas u got, very nice, makes me almost wanna try soil lol

Hey man thanks for the good words

And I think theyre both great. Im trying to decide
whether to get some WW seeds from nirvana...
or buy a couple clones from my uncles friend
which that bud was covered in trichs and
had me pretty far out there. Definatly KB quality.

Im thinking a couple clones would be quicker
and I can do a scrog with them in some half
sized rubber maid totes, 1 per plant.....

Anybody have an opinion on the matter

edit:Actually I posted a thread about the WW. I think
I want to go with some Nirvana WW. Always wanted to try it!
That thread is located in the General Discussion if anybody is interested.